🛩 ClimateHack Vol 115: Lilium's funding woes

Hi There,

Germany’s Lilium has been a topic of hot debate this week as the company awaited a decision for a €100M lifeline from the German government - which according to recent reports, has just been rejected.

The flying taxi startup founded in 2015 promised zero-emission electric aviation in the near future and raised $1.5 billion in private funding before going public in 2021 via a SPAC deal.

Since then Lilium’s share price has fallen by ≈90% as it failed to meet the milestones set out in their IPO and the firm is now left scrambling for a capital injection or risks insolvency.

What caught my attention is all the discussion this has sparked online and the rehashing of the great debate of wether it’s harder to build hardtech in Europe vs US - where competitor electric aviation startup Joby has supposedly collected $600M in US government backing.

While over 650 German founders have signed a letter in support of Lilium receiving a federal guarantee, there’s another very vocal side who are questioning wether tax payer money is the right choice for Lilium’s self inflected wounds.

There are lot of nuances and details that a short newsletter intro like this can’t cover so if you’re interested in the topic, Sifted put together a good summary here.

In Today’s Edition;

🌊 Sweden’s CorPower Ocean secured €32M to advance the commercial rollout of its innovative wave energy solutions.
💨 Strasbourg-based Aerleum raised €5.5M to convert atmospheric CO₂ and low-carbon hydrogen into synthetic fuels.
🇺🇸 New York based Also Capital announced the close of their $21M fund to invest into the next generation of exceptional hard tech founders.

Digest x Climate

👀 100 VC-backable Climate Solutions. For startups, identifying which investors could be next to invest in your startup is a time-taking, painstaking process.

And so to help Founders fast-track their next fundraise and add new investors to their radar, we caught up with 35 impact investors worldwide to hear about the 100 solutions they want to invest in next.

These solutions include:
🌳 Precision reforestation
🌾 Low-carbon fertilizers
🪫 Effective battery upcycling
🌬️ Advanced carbon removals
🛠️ Decarbonising steel manufacturing
⭕ New materials for the circular economy
🔨 Mineral extraction, processing and recycling
⚡ Hardware grid solutions to fuel the energy transition

→ Over 100+ investment firms active in Climate Tech will be attending the HackSummit NYC this December - if you’re looking to close your next deal or build relations ahead of your next round, it’s time you book your place to join us then.

AgriFood x Climate

🌱 Swiss startup UMAMI secured CHF 4.3 million Series A funding to expand its holistic indoor farming operations. Its microgreens are currently available in more than 450 Coop and Migros stores and supplied to 400 restaurants across the country every day. 

🍫 US-based cacao startup Blue Stripes secured $20 million Series B funding, in a round featuring Hershey’s and celebrity chef Nick DiGiovanni, to develop superfood chocolates and upcycled cacao products, including cacao water, granola, and chocolate-covered cacao beans.

🏭 US biomanufacturing company Liberation Labs raised $3.5 million through a Secured Promissory Note, including $2 million from Agronomics Limited, to fund the construction of its first fermentation facility in Richmond, Indiana, which is expected to be operational by Q1 2025.

🍄 Infinite Roots and the Hamburg University of Technology received a €2.6 million grant from the German government to develop technology that upcycles dairy industry waste, specifically whey, into a feedstock for mycelium fermentation.

🦗 Breakthrough Victoria has invested $2.5 million in Melbourne-based Viridian Renewable Technology, which converts food waste into insect-based protein and fertiliser. It will use the funds to further expand what it says is Australia’s first large scale insect protein manufacturing plant.

⛽️ California-based Terviva secured investment from Chevron Renewable Energy Group to scale its operations and promote pongamia oil as a sustainable feedstock for renewable fuels.

♻️ Dutch food firm Yespers is opening the "world's first" zero waste factory in The Hague, an apple processing facility that fully utilises every part of the fruit, turning stems into tea, seeds into oil, cores into juice, and pulp into fruit powder.

🇩🇰 The Danish government announced a commitment of at least DKK 15 billion (€2.01 billion) for green research and innovation by 2030. There will be a particular focus on increasing research funding, fast-tracking green solutions in agriculture and food, promoting a mission-oriented approach, and addressing land use and climate adaptation for a sustainable future.

Biodiversity x Climate

🛰 OroraTech, which uses thermal satellites and AI to predict and prevent wildfires, raised €25 million from the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund to expand its operations, helping organisations and agencies respond to the global wildfire crisis.

🐚 A study by Newcastle University's Coralassist Lab demonstrates the first successful attempt to selectively breed adult corals for enhanced heat tolerance, showing slight improvements in heat resilience within a single generation of coral offspring.

Carbon x Climate

💨 Strasbourg-based Aerleum raised €5.5 million seed funding to industrialise its breakthrough technology, which converts atmospheric CO₂ and low-carbon hydrogen into synthetic fuels and chemicals in a single reactor.

🏭 Kenyan DAC startup Octavia Carbon secured $3.9 million in seed funding and $1.1 million from carbon credit sales, and plans to scale its carbon removal operations beyond its current 50 tonnes per year.

Construction x Climate

🏗 UK nanomaterial technology company Concretene secured €3.5 million for its graphene-enhanced, carbon-saving concrete admixture, designed to support decarbonisation of the concrete industry.

🧱 London-based Circuland raised €750,000 pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its Digital Material Passports, which enable circular economy practices in the construction industry by tracking materials' lifecycles for reuse and recovery.

🏢 WALLROUND, the first startup to receive funding and expertise from the joint PropTech Venture Studio of Founders Factory and Vonovia, is developing a platform to help private landlords in Germany manage energy-efficient renovations, with the aim of modernising Europe's €390 billion residential building market.

Energy x Climate

🏡 Stockholm-based Aira raised €63 million Series B funding from Temasek, Statkraft Ventures, Kinnevik, and Altor to develop and install sustainable heat pumps and other clean energy technologies.

🔋 Swiss startup Terralayr raised €62 million in equity and €15 million in debt to further expand its grid-scale battery management platform, which aggregates and virtualises energy storage assets.

☀️ Hometree secured a £50 million mezzanine facility from CPP Investments to finance the installation of solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps in 35,000 UK homes over the next two years.

🌎 Geologic hydrogen startup Koloma raised $50M in new funding for their quest to find natural hydrogen underground. The company has raised $350 million since it launched in 2021 from firms like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan’s Osaka Gas.

🌊 Sweden’s CorPower Ocean secured €32 million in Series B1 funding to advance the commercial rollout of its innovative wave energy solutions. It has developed a wave energy device which it claims is capable of surviving harsh storm conditions while generating power efficiently in normal ocean environments.

🔌 Treehouse, based in the US, raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Flourish Ventures. Its AI-powered platform is designed to help electricians install the likes of EV chargers and heat pumps more cheaply.

🏭 Netherlands based RIFT raised €11 million in Series A funding for their technology which uses iron powder combustion to generate high-temperature heat without direct CO2 emissions.

⚡️ Australian startup Green Gravity secured $9 million to develop its innovative, low-cost, and eco-friendly energy storage system that uses disused mining shafts to store and release gravitational potential energy. It will use the funds to scale engineering and support testing for commercial deployment.

🔋 French startup Storio raised €5 million to provide smart energy storage solutions for commercial and industrial customers, partnering with battery suppliers and civil engineering firms to integrate battery systems with solar panel installations, all while optimising energy consumption through its battery management software.

🏡 Berlin-based Nomos raised $2.1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Speedinvest. It provides OEMs and installers with an API solution for dynamic electricity plans that enables comprehensive energy solutions for homeowners seeking energy self-sufficiency.

⚡️ 1s1 Energy secured $1.4 million seed funding to advance its novel electrolyser technology. It uses boron-based materials to enhance efficiency and durability, which creates more compact, cost-effective systems for scalable green hydrogen solutions in industries like steel production.

🏝 Finnish startup TheStorage raised €1 million from 2C Ventures and Superhero Capital to advance its sand-based thermal energy storage technology, designed to decarbonise industrial heat by storing renewable energy for continuous use, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy costs.

💨 ETH spin-off RTDT Laboratories has raised a preliminary funding round for Aerosense, its hardware-software solution that collects and analyses aerodynamic, acoustic, and structural data from wind turbine blades to optimise wind turbine fleet operation.

Funds x Climate

🇨🇿 Tensor Ventures launched a new €50 million fund aimed at supporting deep tech startups in the Czech Republic and beyond, with a focus on sectors such as quantum technologies, biotech, security tech, Software 2.0, energy, and climate tech.

🇺🇸 New York based Also Capital announced the close of their $21M fund to invest into the next generation of exceptional hard tech founders. Also’s climate portfolio already includes startups Biosphere (biological manufacturing), Grounded (modular electric vans) and Radiant (portable nuclear reactors).

Materials x Climate

👜 Dutch biotech startup Quorium, founded by cultivated meat pioneer Mark Post, unveiled a 35cmx35cm sample of its cultivated leather - the first proof of concept for full-scale commercialization of its production process.

Mobility x Climate

⛴ France based Selar came out of stealth to announce its sustainable cruise ship concept and an undisclosed round of funding. Designed to carry 36 passengers and 24 crew, it aims to be the first cruise ship powered by renewable energy and to create a new model for ultra-low-emission expedition vessels.

Debate x Climate

The regularly outspoken Venture Capitalist Michael Jackson just said the quiet part out loud and caused a bit of a stir in the climate tech VC pot.

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola